


Operation Had Enough

by belovedplank



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Anti-Team Cap, BAMF Jarvis (Iron Man movies), BAMF Tony Stark, Civil War Team Iron Man, Don't Like Don't Read, Jarvis (Iron Man movies) is a Good Bro, My First Work in This Fandom, Not Clint Barton Friendly, Not Natasha Romanoff Friendly, Not Steve Rogers Friendly, Team IronMan, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Work In Progress
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:53:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27329854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/belovedplank/pseuds/belovedplank
Summary: Even after Tony gives them a place to live and everything they could wish for, The Avengers fail to treat him with the respect he deserves.  Tony has had enough.COMMENTS ARE MODERATED AS TEAM CAP FANS CLEARLY CAN'T READ THE TAGS
Comments: 107
Kudos: 410





	1. Chapter 1

Since the Avengers had moved into the Tower, Tony had done everything he could to make life as easy for them as possible. They each had their own floor, personalised to suit their needs. A private gym just for the Avengers; including a shooting range, an archery range, and super-strength-proof punching bags. Bruce had been given his own lab. All of their food, clothing etc was provided for; with special attention having been made to everyone's preferences.

Tony was used to expressing himself with his money, as it was very rare that the people around him wanted anything else. But in the case of the Avengers, he honestly thought he had the chance to expand his family beyond Rhodey, Pepper, Happy and his bots (including JARVIS), and he wanted to ensure that these people were safe and protected. People he already thought of as friends, and hoped would become part of his family. 

Unfortunately, it did not appear that all of the Avengers felt the same. Although none of them seemed unhappy with what they had been provided with, there had been little gratitude beyond the initial (and from some feeling somewhat perfunctory) thanks given when they first moved in.

**************************************************

Tony and Bruce had clicked pretty much immediately, and they had great fun 'sciencing' together. However, their temperaments were very different, and Bruce could not deal with Tony's constant movement and tendency to talk incessantly (often without actually being aware that he was speaking aloud) for extended periods, and so had calmly and quietly expressed to Tony his need for structure and limiting their interaction to no more than a few hours at a time. 

This did not mean that Bruce was not grateful for everything Tony did for him; providing him with a safe space, somewhere he thought he could actually call home – as well as being only the second person on his life to not be afraid of the big green monster inside him. But Bruce was no better than Tony himself when it came to expressing his feelings, so Bruce tried to show his gratitude in small ways – always bringing a cup of coffee with him whenever he came to Tony's lab, and conspiring with JARVIS to ensure that Tony ate – often bringing him a plate of whatever food he had prepared for himself.

But as for the others....their behaviour was another story. Natasha's treatment of Tony was what could only reasonably be referred to as 'gaslighting'; constantly demanding upgrades and improvements to her fighting equipment; her suits and Widow Bites etc. And if Tony dared to comment that he was too busy due to his responsibilities as Head of R&D and Owner of SI, she would be quick to talk down to him about how he should be able to manage given that it was Pepper who did everything at SI anyway and he was no more than a figure-head. She also made constant remarks as to his ego, belittling any contributions he made and never expressing any gratitude for the sleepless nights he had to upgrade her equipment. Despite not being a trained profiler, and her profile having been based on the actions of a man who was dying of heavy metal poisoning (and hence not acting like himself), she stood by her comments in her report, and her negative perception of Tony tainted not only her behaviour, but that of Clint and Steve, to whom she had given a copy of her report.

Clint was, to put not too fine a point on it, an absolute dick to Tony. Like Natasha, he demanded constant upgrades on his equipment, and was always berating Tony about the time it took him to provide new arrows. He also quickly got used to the luxury lifestyle offered to him by the Tower, having no qualms about spending Tony's money on whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted. This included repeatedly taking money out using the card Tony had provided to each of them, and squirrelling it away into various accounts...or occasionally taking money out so that he could by expensive clothing and lingerie or toys to send to the wife and children he kept secret. He assumed that by taking money out of the account and paying cash for those items he could not be tracked, but neither of the spies had registered the extent of what JARVIS could do.

Steve had taken the file he had been provided on Tony as gospel, and interpreted all of Tony's actions to fit the information he was provided. He had expected an egotistic, arrogant rich playboy, and so these were the only traits he registered. So when Tony's actions totally contradicted his perception of him; with him making the sacrifice play and flying the nuke into the Portal, and then being so flippant about his own actions and safety and instead focusing on making sure everyone was fed, and then offering them a place to stay, Steve was flabbergasted. He did not know what to think. On his sojourn around the country he took some time to really think about his actions and how wrong he was about Tony. He did not like the man he saw himself to be in his treatment of the son of his friend, and he was ashamed of his actions. By the time he returned to New York, and upon being told the other Avengers had taken Tony up on his offer to reside in the Tower, he decided that he would apologise to Tony, and work on making amends, and getting to know the real Tony Stark. 

However Tony, being Tony, did not know what to do with a heartfelt sincere apology, and so brushed him off; focusing on showing Steve the apartment he had set up for him; including a vintage 40's record player, and babbling to him about the art equipment he had set up in the art studio Tony had built for Steve – including details of various art classes he could sign up for if he wanted. He also told Steve that JARVIS would be more than happy to help him in any way he wanted with regards acclimatising himself to living in this time period. 

Steve was overwhelmed by Tony's generosity, but also started to feel like Tony was trying to buy him, and that maybe there was some ulterior motive. He also took offence to the fact that Tony thought him incapable of dealing with the changes for himself, and that Tony thought he would resort to asking for help from a computer rather than seeking guidance from real people. The fact that Tony refused to talk about Howard Stark – pretty much the only thing that the two men had in common, simply underlined for Steve that clearly Tony was not looking to be friends, so he stopped trying. Steve quickly got into the habit of emulating Clint and Natasha's treatment of Tony.

****************************************************

But despite their (incorrect) perceptions of Tony, they were still a Team, and in living in the Tower, they had ample opportunity to work on team dynamics, and ensure they got to know each other well enough to function effectively as a Team. They all utilised the common floor regularly, and Steve set up a schedule for Team Movie Nights where they would take turns to choose movies, and a weekly Team Dinner – where they would all take turns to prepare a meal (or in Tony's case – and usually Clint's too, order take-out). 

Steve's hope was that this would bring the team closer together, and for the most part he felt this was successful. He had quickly become close friends with Natasha and Clint, and could take their teasing about his 'old man ways' and gaps in his knowledge; although for some reason, every time Tony made a similar joking remark, it always seemed to get Steve's back up. 

Steve knew that Bruce was a very intelligent man, but he was nevertheless very shy. Steve was sure his alter ego made him all the more wary of how he interacted with others, so did everything he could to try to show Bruce that he was not afraid of him, and that he wanted to get to know him better. Their friendship seemed to develop from Bruce being prepared to update Steve's cooking knowledge and experience, so the two men were often found in the kitchen, preparing meals. These meals often resulted in Natasha and Clint appearing so the four of them would eat together. Bruce always set aside some food to take down to Tony, but it did not seem to register with him that none of the others ever thought to invite Tony or to ask where he was during these meals.

*********************************************

Nightmares would usually result in the Team wandering to the common floor rather than staying alone in their rooms, and night-time meet-ups also brought them closer together, as they eventually started to confide in each other somewhat about their nightmares. Although Natasha never went into detail about why she was awake, she was always prepared to listen and prepare tea or pour a generous measure of Russian vodka. 

Through comments between the men, they had come to realise that they shared the history of abusive fathers; albeit Steve had been fortunate enough that his father did not stick around for long, and his mother was wonderful and caring and he also had the care and support of Bucky and his family. But nevertheless, having this in common brought all of them closer. 

Having known Howard during the War, and considering him a close friend, Steve would never have thought for a moment to question his ability as a father, so considered this to be just another thing that brought him closer to the other men on the team whilst further distancing him from Tony – as he was adamant Tony could never understand what they had gone through.

Clint could have gathered from what he had been told about Stark's history (by SHIELD and Natasha) that Tony's relationship with his father was far from good, but he just never thought about it; never making any real effort to find anything in common with Tony Stark, and rather focused on what he could get off him, and what he could poke fun at him about.

Bruce knew about Tony and his Dad, but just never thought about why Tony was not part of their little group commiserations. It just did not register with him that this was simply yet another occasion when the opportunity to include Tony was missed. A few times during these discussions he opened his mouth to make a comment about Tony and his relationship with his father, and remembered that every piece of information he had obtained from Tony about this had been when it was a conversation with just the two of them, or once or twice with Rhodey too. This made him think that it would likely be information Tony would prefer to remain private, and therefore that it was not his place to share such information with Steve and Clint. His thought was that if Tony wanted to share this information with them, he would. He didn't think about how Tony never had the opportunity to do this.


	2. Quality Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony is away from Avengers Tower for work, and starts to realise that that the way he is treated at home is not normal. Quality time with his best friends helps him understand why.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAVE HAD TO MODERATE COMMENTS DUE TO IDIOTS WHO CAN'T/WON'T READ THE TAGS

Tony was away from the Tower (and consequently the Avengers) for a few weeks, whilst he did some actual work for SI; visiting various SI sites, spending some time in the R&D divisions outside of New York, and even attending some meetings, much to Pepper's delight. This meant Tony spent a lot of time around people who did not know him amazingly well, but had been employees long enough (and had enough intelligence) that there was no gushing over him (or glaring and/or pointed passive aggressive remarks). He just got to spend time with like-minded people who clearly respected him, and spoke to and treated him accordingly. The fact that at no point was he on tenterhooks awaiting a disparaging and/or debasing remark, expecting to have to defend himself for something, or expecting to be asked to leave, and that he was actually having fun getting back to what he loved, meant that he was sleeping much better than he thought he ever had at the Tower. And that, along with the shock he felt at people being nice to him, being polite and respectful and actually wanting him around, really confused him. 

Tony ended this time away from New York with a few days in his remodelled Malibu home with Pepper and Rhodey for some long-overdue quality time. And so, relaxed by having a full belly, and feeling safe and content in the company of his favourite people, he relayed to them his confusion and surprise at how he had been treated, and how much better he had been sleeping whilst away from the Tower (and the Avengers)

Pepper and Rhodey looked at each other over Tony's head, and gathered him closer, the three of them snuggling together on the sofa as Pepper started running a hand through Tony's hair – the easiest way to get him into a mellow puddle and loosen the filter he had on his feelings. As Tony relaxed further and Pepper and Rhodey managed to maintain a facade of calm, they got him to explain how the Avengers had been treating him; pretty much since they first moved in. The constant talking down to him, debasement of his actions and abilities, the pointed remarks and oft-times insults thinly disguised as banter – especially if there had been anything even vaguely negative about Tony in the news. The constant attacks about his ego (paying no heed to the fact that Tony was in fact incredibly insecure, and that his public facade was precisely that!) The fact that the Team never actually seemed to want to spend time with him, and never included him in any plans they made as a Team. The fact that despite him being a business owner and having a full-time job, they made constant demands for things to be sorted now, and of course, the fact that they had him pay for absolutely everything without so much as a please or a thank you.

By the time Tony had finally drifted off, Rhodey and Pepper were stiff from trying to keep their anger in. They managed to carefully extricate themselves from their sleeping friend, and after ensuring he was still asleep and tucking a blanket around him, they crept out to the kitchen so that they could vent accordingly. They felt fortunate for the soundproofing Tony had installed, as both of them were so angry as to feel unable to keep their voices down as they vocalised all the expletives that felt necessary in light of what Tony had told them. Unfortunately, this was not enough to calm them down, as JARVIS felt that they may benefit from more information than the vagaries Tony had given (and the fact alone that JARVIS implied it was worse than what Tony had relayed, only incensed his friends more). 

It was some time later that JARVIS felt that they were fully informed as to how poorly the so-called heroes had been treating their Tony. And JARVIS had included within his summation not only how the Avengers had treated Tony, but also SHIELD – providing footage of Natasha stabbing him with a needle without his consent, Fury having stolen and kept some of Howard's things (which he only provided after hacking JARVIS and keeping Tony prisoner in his own home), and Colson threatening to taze him. 

Pepper knew that Extremis was stable, but the sheer severity of her anger made her feel like she was burning (and to be honest the anger kind of made her wish she still had some of her Extremis powers to unleash on those who dared treat Tony so horrendously). Seeing the footage of what Natasha did, on top of hearing and seeing her constant gaslighting, abolished any even vaguely friendly feelings she had had for the other woman. But seeing what Phil did hurt, as he had helped to save her from Stane, and she had trusted him; she had counted him as a friend. No more.  
She instructed JARVIS to prepare detailed files on all of them, gathering detailed chronological records of every slight towards Tony. He was to prepare the necessary documents to file assault charges as well as corporate espionage against Natasha (as well as accessory charges for Fury in addition to theft, false imprisonment and B&E), and to look into whether criminal charges could be brought against Phil for the threat to Tony's life.  
As for Clint, when JARVIS advised not only how badly he treated Tony, but that he also was siphoning funds for his hidden family, she told him to uncover everything he could about this family along with all the evidence showing Clint for the heartless bullying bastard he really is. She hoped that Clint had married a decent enough person that she would be ashamed to see such behaviour, but if not, Pepper had no qualms about making his actions public – including the fact that he was a husband and father who acted in such a callous manner.

Of all of the Avengers, it was Steve's actions that hit Rhodey the hardest. He had never trusted Natasha, and he didn't really know the others, but he had grown up with Captain America, and even as a adult in the Air Force he was someone everyone knew of and respected; a paragon they all aspired to be more like. But not anymore. Rhodey thought he'd seen the last of users managing to wind their way into Tony's life after Tiberius Stone and Sunset Bain back in Uni, and was outraged that Tony had to go through such treatment yet again.  
Rhodey had been present in the Stark Mansion for a few weeks one Summer Break and had the misfortune to witness one of Howard Stark's drunken ravings about how amazing Steve Rogers was and how his own son would never be as good. And even though Tony was only 16 at that time, Rhodey was aware that was far from the first time Tony had been subjected to such a tirade. Tony had been told by Howard that he was not good enough for his entire life, and Howard continued with this behaviour right up until the day he died. So Rhodey had totally understood Tony's feelings towards Captain America, and had expected any issues between them to have started on Tony's side; but after JARVIS showed them footage of their initial confrontation on the Hellicarrier, he could see that Captain America had already made up his mind about Tony before even meeting him. The rose-tinted glasses were definitely off for Rhodey as far as Steve Rogers was concerned; for all he held himself to be 'looking out for the little guy', he had shown himself to be nothing more than a self-absorbed idiot, who punched first and thought later (if at all) and seemed to consider everyone who disagreed with him to be a bully – and consequently acted towards such people in a way that could only be referred to as bullying! For someone who was supposed to be a Master Tactician, such conduct was concerning, so Rhodey asked JARVIS for details of the Captain's service records; which was when he discovered that Steve Rogers was not even a Captain! Rhodey was a Colonel, so he was fully aware that a University Degree was required to attain a higher level of office in the military, but he'd just never thought about it when it came to Captain America – who had in fact not even graduated High School, due to the amount of time he had been absent because of his multitude of health conditions. In addition, Rogers had not even completed Basic Training; having only been on base a few weeks when he was chosen as the guinea pig for Super Soldier Serum.  
Captain America clearly did not live up to his stories. Rhodey's anger on behalf of his friend far overshadowed any disappointment he felt. As a person of colour, Colonel James Rhodes had had to work twice as hard for half of the respect automatically given to Steve Rogers upon his return. But unlike Rogers, Rhodey had earned his title. And he would have no qualms about ensuring his Air Force colleagues were fully aware of what a fraud Captain America really was. 

By the time the three of them sat down for breakfast the next morning, Pepper and Rhodey were fully prepared to rain Hell on the Avengers.  
They calmly and carefully explained to Tony that the way he had been feeling the last few weeks; safe and respected and content – that was how he should always feel in his own home, and how he should be treated by any decent human being – especially people who call themselves team-mates and friends. They spent considerable time making sure that he fully understood, until he promised that he would not take it from them anymore. In fact, they managed to drum it into him so forcefully that he got past being shocked and upset at how the Avengers had been treated him, and finally started feeling angry. But despite his anger, they were not able to get him to agree to destroy the Avengers; after what he had seen in the wormhole, Tony was adamant that he needed them, that the world would need them. But they did get him to agree to create a protocol with JARVIS; which he instantly and aptly named 'Operation Had Enough'. Enacting the protocol would allow Tony a break away from the Avengers whilst a combination Pepper, Rhodey and/or JARVIS 'had a word' with them, and outlined how and why their behaviour would not be continuing.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony returns to the Tower

Tony had returned to New York, and had managed to avoid all of the Avengers bar Bruce for almost 2 weeks now; and even Bruce he had only seen in the lab (and not for long enough for Bruce to ask any questions or for them to go any deeper than science-related topics). He had not spent any time on the common floor at all, and clearly none of the Avengers had tried to come up to the Penthouse to look for him, as he had blocked their access and none of them had realised thus far.  
He recognised that he was still angry about the way they had treated him, but he was also angry with himself for allowing it, and for the fact that his own issues had meant he had not even recognised that the way they were treating him was wrong! He was more than a little embarrassed that despite his genius, this had to be pointed out to him by his real friends. However, this had been what had finally made him accept that he needed professional help with his issues; not only in respect of his PTSD, but all the other issues that had stemmed from a childhood of neglect/abuse, repeated kidnappings, repeated emotional manipulation, numerous mentally abusive relationships – culminating in the gaslighting, emotional manipulation and frankly mistreatment he was subjected to by the Avengers (and SHIELD). JARVIS had already done the necessary research and security checks and had someone picked out ready when Tony finally conceded to go. He had already had a double session and found Ms Smoak remarkably easy to talk to – maybe because in addition to her psychiatric qualifications she also had a degree in computer engineering, and vast knowledge of computer code which meant that no only could she follow some of his tech-speak if he went off on a tangent, but she freely admitted her fascination with JARVIS, and the miracle of him creating a sentient learning AI that clearly had emotions. She also took no shit, and did not allow him to flirt and otherwise deflect to try to avoid the issues that needed to be addressed. Her knowledge of computer code also meant that her records were very secure, so this time he was not concerned that she could be hacked and his therapy sessions be made fodder for public ridicule as had happened in the past. He started to feel like he might actually be able to get the help he needed.

The therapy sessions made Tony start to hope that he might be able to deal with seeing the Avengers without expressing his anger towards them; for all he continued to do what he could to avoid them for as long as possible. Unfortunately, that was certainly far from a permanent solution – if nothing else he would have to see them as soon as there was a call to Assemble. And that's exactly what happened.  
Fortunately, he had been at a dinner meeting with Pepper for SI, so was able to arrive separately to the others using his suit, rather than travelling in the quinjet with them. He did not speak to anyone on the comms unless necessary; rare as usually he would be quipping about whatever they were battling. Clint had made a pointed remark about him thinking himself too good to even speak to them now, but Tony did not rise to the bait, and was sure that the Captain was appreciating the lack of 'chatter' on the comms, as he would usually ask Tony to refrain from such at least once on every mission.  
As the battle had been quite minor; no aliens, simply Hammer drones being utilised by a disgruntled former Hammer employee trying to get him in trouble (hence the attack taking place outside the Hammer Industries building), Steve had declared that a debrief was not needed, rather everyone should submit their separate reports of their assessment of what happened, and Tony would provide a report which included a copy of the footage from his armour and everyone's stats (in terms of how many bots each person eliminated, and how much property damage was caused). Glad that he did not have to spend any more time with them, Tony simply confirmed that Cap would have his report in the morning and flew off before anyone could even consider suggesting he return with them in the quinjet. He had returned to Pepper first to update her and to check whether he needed to do anything to make up for running out on the meeting. They both know that he could have called or even relayed this information via JARVIS, but he felt Pepper deserved to see him in person and have that visible reassurance that he was alright. In any event, they all (JARVIS too) knew that it was also an excuse to avoid returning to the Tower whilst the others were wide awake on post-battle adrenaline.  
By the time Tony had got back to the Tower, removed the armour, showered, changed and made his way back to his lab, it was to find that the Avengers had already been by – leaving their equipment flung outside the lab door ready for cleaning and repair. JARVIS confirmed that Steve had decreed that this should all be sorted for the next day, and then outlined what repairs/improvements had been demanded. Tony sighed, resigned to the fact that they were clearly either entirely ignorant or just did not care that he had his own repairs, as well as having the mission report to do, ongoing SI projects and actually needing to sleep!

Fortunately, JARVIS could sort the mission report; including collating the necessary footage and stats; as well as be of great assistance in actually dealing with the repairs, which meant Tony was actually able to achieve the demand of everything being sorted by the following day. However, this was at the expense of the SI work (which fortuitously he was in fact ahead on) and his need for sleep. He had managed a few hours on the sofa in the lab, but that was far from preferable to 6 hours real sleep in his own bed.

When he awoke, JARVIS confirmed that all of the repairs had been completed, and that the suits and equipment were ready to be returned to their 'owners'. JARVIS also confirmed that the mission report had been completed, a copy submitted to SHIELD, and a hardcopy of the report printed out (along with with a DVD of the required footage) for the Captain. Tony groaned as he slowly manouvred off the sofa and stretched, hearing the cracking and popping of bones resettling. He started to walk towards the bathroom off the lab as he asked JARVIS to arrange for bots to deliver all of the completed items. By the time he had come back out of the bathroom, freshly showered and in a change of clothes, the items had already been delivered to the rooms of the respective Avengers with no response; either gratitude or disdain (and JARVIS had most certainly given them the opportunity to express gratitude, as he had verbally informed Natasha, Clint and Steve separately that their items were outside their rooms fully repaired to their specifications; and in Steve's case that Tony's Mission Report was also there). Tony was still too tired to consider getting annoyed, and focused on getting caffeine in his system as soon as possible. He had not thought to ask JARVIS what time it was or where the others were, he just got off at the common floor and staggered towards the coffee-pot, looking rather zombie-esque as he did so whilst quietly muttering about his need for coffee.  
He did not register Natasha and Clint on the sofa in the living area, or Steve's presence in the kitchen, he just focused on the coffee-pot; which JARVIS had already started as soon as he exited the elevator. Muttering his thanks to his computer-friend, Tony started opening the cupboards looking for his favourite mug; a white mug which had a child's drawing of Iron Man on it – a gift from a fan that he treasured. He grumbled as he saw it, handle-side in, on the very top shelf of one of the cupboards – out of his reach, meaning that one of the others (likely Clint) had put it up there as a 'prank'. However, before he could say anything or try to get it himself, a strong muscled arm crossed his vision and plucked the mug from the shelf. He turned towards Steve to take the mug and thank him, but before he could do so, Steve snatched the mug from Tony's reach and held it above his own head in a childish 'keep-away' fashion. “Nah ah ah! What do we say Tony?!” 

This was not the first time the Team had moved his things or otherwise 'pranked' him about his height; in fact, it happened pretty much any time his shorter stature was brought to their attention. A while back, there had been a photo taken of the Team post-battle, with Tony out of his suit doing some emergency repairs as they stood around him. As they were all in their uniforms (and in Bruce's case, still hulked out) and given the angle of the photograph, they all appeared much taller than him; even Natasha. The press had had a field day, with discussions on his height, him having a Napoleon complex, and numerous derogatory height-related nicknames – the most common being 'Tiny Stark'. This had resulted in a good week of 'pranks'; with various items of Tony's being placed out of his reach for the Avenger's amusement. So, not only were the media poking fun at Tony's height, the team had taken to doing it also – even Bruce had patted him on the head patronisingly. 

All of that flashed through Tony's memory at the sight of Steve holding his mug above his head, and he growled inwardly. THAT IS ENOUGH! Tony just stood there for a moment, staring at Steve, who faltered at the look on Tony's face and started to lower his arm. By the time the mug reached the counter, Tony's watch had reformed into the gauntlet, and before Steve could register that, Tony pulled his arm back and punched Steve straight in the face. 

Steve's shout of pain and surprise causes Clint and Natasha to look over, and immediately start towards Tony – to berate him or fight him he was unsure, but he was not going to take it. He held out his arm with the repulsor lit up in warning; “No. Just, no. Either of you take one step towards me I will fire. I've had enough. You all just stay away from me.” Grabbing his mug with his his other hand, he kept the repulsor pointed at the two SHIELD agents as he poured his coffee. Stepping backwards towards the elevator to keep the three of them in his sights, as Steve seemed to get over the shock and was staggering back upright, Tony had the arm make it's whirling pre-blast warning sound as he continued to back away. Upon reaching the elevator, he stated clearly; “JARVIS, enact 'Operation Had Enough'” before stepping into the elevator as JARVIS replied in the affirmative.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAVE HAD TO MODERATE COMMENTS DUE TO IDIOTS WHO CAN'T/WON'T READ THE TAGS


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reactions from the Avengers and Explanations from JARVIS 
> 
> MODERATED AS TEAM CAP FANS CANNOT READ TAGS

Once the elevator doors closed and they could hear it rising to the Penthouse, Natasha and Clint turned back to Steve, who was still leaning against the kitchen counter with a look of shock on his face. Natasha went to the freezer to get some ice for his eye, that was already starting to swell. Once Steve was sat at the counter holding an ice pack to his eye, the SHIELD agents sat with him to find out what had happened. They were not impressed when Steve explained Tony punched him in response to some light-hearted teasing about his height, all agreeing that such a response was most certainly excessive. Within minutes their conversation had gone from being confused and dissatisfied with the severity of Tony's response, to just talking amongst each other about how awful Tony is to be unable to take such teasing; generally being rather disparaging about Tony and blaming it on his ego. Clint starts to get riled up, and says that they should go to Tony and make sure he knows he cannot get away with this behaviour; with a dismissive comment about punching Tony himself to see how he likes it!

As they all start to rise from their seats as if in agreement, JARVIS advised that they do not have authorisation to follow Tony and that if they try to force their way he will have to take action. Natasha was immediately wary, but Clint just scoffed, making a comment about JARVIS just being a computer as he goes to follow Tony – only to fall as if tasered when he reaches the doorway. 

Natasha and Steve both make sounds of alarm that are cut off by JARVIS' response; “You were warned Mr Barton. I confirm that Operation 'Had Enough' is in effect, and as such none of the 'Avengers' are to approach Mr Stark until he says otherwise.” 

This is what Bruce walks into, and hearing the tone in JARVIS' voice and seeing Clint groaning on the floor, he immediately goes over to check he is alright as he exclaims; “What the hell did you do?!”

Clint is groggy as Bruce helps him up and supports him over to the sofa, Natasha and Steve following. As Bruce takes out a penlight and starts to check Clint for a concussion, all three of them declare to Bruce that they had not done anything; claiming that it was Tony who was at fault –   
pointing out Steve's blackening eye and claiming that Tony cannot take a joke and overreacted. Given that the Protocol had been initiated, JARVIS was not prepared to stand for any more adverse remarks against his Creator, and so interrupted to provide Bruce with the facts.

“Doctor Banner, Mr Stark has been belittled, talked down to, berated, blamed and quite frankly bullied by you so called heroes since the beginning. And he has had enough. We have all had enough”.

The other three Avengers immediately got defensive, and started spouting forceful denials – Clint's starting to be interspersed with angry mumblings about evil AI's as well (albeit ensuring he was not anywhere near a doorway where he could get tasered again).

JARVIS ignored their comments, and asked “Mr Rogers, prior to the serum, you were 5'6”, were you not?” 

Steve confirmed (somewhat sheepishly) that this was true and started to ask what that had to do with anything, when JARVIS continued; “And your height made you the subject of ridicule and debasement did it not? You were made to feel inferior, not good enough due to something you could not change.”

Steve could see where JARVIS was going with this, and felt quite defensive. “Yeah, but the people who said such things weren't my friends!”

“Mr Rogers, to be quite frank, I am unclear as to when you have said or acted in any fashion towards Sir that would give an indication that you considered him to be your friend. You regularly talk down to him and blame him for things outside of his control, you never seem to consider what he does to be good enough, and you frequently leave him out of any group activities. Neither your words nor actions reflect that of a friend, so why would Sir consider your comments and actions today to be friendly teasing rather than malicious?”

Natasha took that pause to respond, as she could see that Steve was frustrated and yet floundering. “With Tony's ego, it is best to be straight with him JARVIS, you more than most are certainly aware of that. And -” 

JARVIS cut her off before she could continue with her attempts to talk their way out of this. “Ms Romanoff, I must admit that I am finding your repeated comments regarding Sir's ego rather tedious, as well as both incorrect and hypocritical.” 

Natasha was unable to hide her surprise and offence at such a comment, and both Clint and Steve were quick to try to defend her; “That was uncalled for JARVIS”, from Steve, while a still groggy Clint was just swearing.

“I am unclear as to how stating facts is uncalled for Mr Rogers. Ms Romanoff has made repeated comments regarding Sir's ego, claiming he is arrogant and narcissistic, whilst seeming to be completely oblivious as to the size of her own ego and her hypocrisy in such comments. Her ego is so large that despite having no training or qualifications in psychology, she considers that her assessment of Sir is a 100% accurate summation of Sir in his entirety. The report solely considers his public persona – which is exactly that, a persona that he puts on for the media as a form of protection, and in no way an accurate portrayal of Sir's true character, and consideration of his actions whilst he was dying of heavy metal poisoning – which of course adversely affected his behaviour.”

Before JARVIS could continue, Bruce cut him off (the shock in his voice echoing the shock on Steve's face) “Dying?! What do you mean dying?!” 

JARVIS was quick to clarify “Well Dr Banner, at the time Ms Romanoff had committed corporate espionage to become an employee of SI under false pretences in order to make a report to SHIELD as to Sir's suitability for the Avengers Initiative, Sir was not acting like himself as he was dying of palladium poisoning.”

Before Bruce could respond to any of that, Steve jumped in to ask how Tony had been poisoned. 

“As I presume you are all aware, Sir has the arc-reactor because the bombing in Afghanistan left him with shards of shrapnel in his chest that are too small to remove safely, but if left, would pierce his heart and kill him. The Arc-Reactor prevents this from happening. However, Sir created this in a cave in Afghanistan, so had limited resources. At the time, an Arc-Reactor run by palladium was better than a car battery, which was what he was originally attached to after the surgery in a cave by a non-medical professional without anaesthetic.” Despite JARVIS technically not being human, and hence expected to sound factual and unemotional as he relayed such information, the care and concern he had for his creator was evident in his tone.

Bruce had been aware of the purpose of the reactor, as of course was Natasha – who had relayed this information to Clint, but Steve had had no idea – presuming that the reactor was simply to power the suit, and not really registering that it was actually inside Tony. Hearing a summary of what Tony had gone through caused Steve to take on a slightly grey pallor. He had to swallow and clear his throat before he could ask JARVIS how Tony found a solution.

Steve was focused on JARVIS' response, so missed the flash of guilt that crossed Natasha's face; although Bruce certainly caught it; as did JARVIS, who continued with some relish, hoping that Natasha continued to feel such well-deserved guilt at the reminder of her actions.

“Well Mr Rogers, it transpired that after Mr Howard Stark had passed away, SHIELD had taken it upon themselves to remove some of his belongings from Stark Mansion, and so, after Ms Romanoff injected Sir with an unknown substance without his prior knowledge or consent, Director Fury trapped Sir in his home under SHIELD guard, returning a box of the stolen belongings for Sir to peruse, with a comment that some information that may assist could be found therein. Despite being fully aware that the poisoning was affecting Sir's behaviour and cognitive abilities, he was left with nothing more than a veiled hint to go off, along with Agent Coulson threatening to taze him if he tried to leave.”

Bruce growled at that, taking deep breaths to try to calm himself. Clint had been quiet and somewhat removed from the situation until that point, but had to ask why Bruce had such a visceral reaction to something so minor.

Bruce was immediately back to trying to hold back the Hulk as he responded; “Minor?! Coulson threatened to kill Tony!” 

All three of them immediately objected to that, but Bruce cut off such objections forcefully; “The Arc-Reactor is essentially a self sustaining electrical source, constantly working to keep the shrapnel from moving to Tony's heart. If Coulson had tazered Tony, this would have either shorted out the Reactor; resulting in the shrapnel piercing Tony's heart and killing him or have caused an electrical surge which would have electrocuted Tony – to death.”

That shut them all up fast enough. Even Clint, who was closer to Phil than any of the others, could not find anything positive to say, simply muttering “No wonder Stark doesn't trust SHIELD.”

The reminder of the late Agent (as well as the revelation that he was not perfect in the way people oft remembered people once gone) resulted in several moments of silent melancholy, before JARVIS was asked to continue with the explanation.

“Sir took the box down to his workshop and proceeded to discover; well more accurately to rediscover, a new element. The elder Mr Stark had discovered it in theory, but like his son, he was ahead of his time, and did not have the necessary equipment to make his theory reality. Sir however, was not so limited. Whilst dying, he built a particle accelerator and created an element that has since been registered on the Periodic Table as Starkanium – albeit at the time of discovery Sir had wanted to call it Badassium.” That quip managed to raise a smile from them all. “He replaced the palladium core with the Starkanium – of which the clearest descriptor would be a form of man-made vibranium. This provided a permanent power source that requires no replenishing or recharging, and will continue to not only run the reactor, but helped to purge the poison from Sir's body.”

Steve was aware of what had happened at the Expo, and asked “So how long after he found this cure did he have to deal with the Expo?” He expected it to be at least a few days, if not weeks, and felt his jaw drop as JARVIS confirmed “It was the middle of the night when Sir removed his last Palladium core, and the incident at the Expo was that afternoon. So, less than 12 hours.”

There was a few minutes of silence as they registered the sheer depth of the hell Tony had gone through, before JARVIS queried; “So Mr Rogers, do you still have any objections to my comments towards Ms Romanoff?” The reminder of where the conversation that had resulted in this deluge of information had started from resulted in Natasha glaring at the floor whilst Steve rubbed his hand over the back of his neck as he looked somewhat sheepish. 

But the reminder caused Bruce to ask another question; “Getting back to that - what report were you talking about JARVIS?”

There was a clearly feigned surprise in JARVIS' tone as he responded; “Oh, has Ms Romanoff not provided you with a copy of this report Dr Banner? She certainly did to both Mr Barton and Mr Rogers, as well as submitting it to Director Fury after she committed corporate espionage in order to obtain the information to draft said report. Would you like me to forward a copy to your email?”

Bruce frowned at Natasha as he confirmed he would appreciate that. “Is there a reason it was provided to the rest of the team, but not to me?” As Bruce did not specifically state who he was speaking to, despite him clearly directing the question to Natasha, JARVIS responded before she could “I can only assume that it was a combination of hoping to manipulate the others into echoing her opinion and hence treatment of Sir, in addition to the fact that with your knowledge and education clearly exceeding hers in respect of psychology, you would clearly see the errors within such a report. And she is aware that you actually do consider and treat Sir as a friend, and that you would likely feel compelled to discuss the matter with him.”

Bruce's frown deepened at JARVIS' comments, as he pulled out his tablet to see the report already waiting for him to start reading. At the same time, Clint's offence at being considered so easy to manipulate was evident on his face, as was the confusion on Steve's. 

“Natasha wouldn't manipulate us JARVIS, we're her friends, her Team! She was just providing us with the same information she provided Shield. I am sure Bruce not getting the report was just an oversight.” 

If JARVIS could, he would roll his eyes in response to the sheer ignorance of that comment. Clint himself, despite his offence, could barely contain a snort of derision. He knew Natasha better than pretty much anyone, and he was fully aware that not even he would be spared from her manipulations if she deemed it necessary. He just felt that he would know if she was doing it.

Due to Bruce's speed reading, it did not take him long to read through the so called psychological profile. “What the fuck is this Natasha?!” Swearing, or even raising his voice, was incredibly rare for Bruce, and given what happened when he was angry, they all immediately focused their attention on him, watching for the slightest tinge of green. “Seriously?! I mean, do you have any psychological and/or profiling qualifications?! If you do I would throw them out now as they are clearly worthless!”

Steve once again leapt to Natasha's defence, claiming that she obviously had the necessary knowledge and experience to draft the report or Fury would not have asked her to do it. Clint could not refrain from rolling his eyes at that.

“OK, so you are happy to take the word of a man that you already know from the Hellicarrier is keeping things from you, and attempting to manipulate the situation to suit his own agenda. So, did she do your psych profile too? I mean, if this worthless piece of crap is Tony's report, I dread to think what mine says. JARVIS, where are the rest of the Team's profiles? And who did Natasha's?”

“I am unaware of any other members of the Team undergoing an assessment Dr Banner. Only Sir.”

Bruce took a step back from the others, as he could feel his anger surge at that. “What?! So, you're telling me that a man whose mind was messed with by a magic God, and a man who has missed almost 70 years and clearly has PTSD from the war, neither of them underwent a psychological assessment or any form of therapy before being added to the Avengers Roster?!”

Both Clint and Steve piped up to object to that. “I was cleared from Loki by Shield!” Clint barked, whilst at the same time Steve shouted “I'm not crazy!”

“No-one said that you were crazy Steve. But PTSD is a medical condition that requires treatment, and you've got that to deal with on top of waking up completely alone in a different century, where pretty much everything has changed. Of course you need help with getting acclimated to your new situation.”

Steve seemed to be struggling with that information; it sounded perfectly reasonable, and of course he trusted Bruce to know better than him about current medical issues, but at the same time, he was a product of his era, and even the mention of the potential for him having a mental health issue made him shudder inwardly at the thought of strait-jackets and electro-shock treatments. But he swallowed that back and asked for clarification; “What do you mean; getting acclimated? And who says I have PTSD anyway?!”

“Steve, calm down. I don't think any of the Avengers apart from possibly Thor, have never had any issues with PTSD. I certainly have and I know for a fact that Tony does too. The Hell Clint was put through by Loki must have caused some trauma that would likely be placed in the PTSD region, and I am too afraid to even consider Natasha for fear she would gut me, but I am certain she's had some traumatic experiences in her life. But you, you went through a body transformation, went to war, lost friends, lost your best friend, then went plummeting to what you thought was your death in an attempt to save the world from Hydra, only to wake up entirely alone almost 70 years in the future. The entire world had changed, and you were alone. The thought of that alone is heartbreaking, but to live through it, I am sure I cannot even begin to imagine what you went through. And upon waking up, you should have been assessed by a medical professional – not just to ensure you were physically healthy, but mentally healthy too. You needed to have someone go through key historical, cultural and medical developments to help you come to terms with and acclimatise to your new world. But instead, you were thrown into another battle, this time with aliens, and monsters and assassins and a man in a metal suit. I am quite frankly appalled at the lack of guidance you have had, and am concerned that without such guidance you will have some serious issues in due course.”

Steve sunk back into his seat and put his head in his hands. Clint plonked himself down next to Steve and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “Yikes Doc, I get where you're coming from but that was a lot to throw out in one go.”

Bruce sighed heavily, “Maybe, but it was clearly necessary Clint. Steve, I am not a medical Doctor, but I certainly have more knowledge in psychology than Natasha, and as a victim of PTSD myself – as well as dealing with friends who have PTSD – like Tony, I can identify the signs. And as you are my team-mates, I feel it my obligation to say my piece. You have been manipulated and mislead after being unmade – be it by an alien or by being frozen in time. You deserve to be fully informed, to receive the care and treatment you need in order to have the freedom to make informed decisions moving forward.”

Clint and Steve listened, and registered Bruce's words. As did Natasha. The men had forgotten that she was still present; which given the disdain she had heard in Bruce's words about her report and consequently her actions, she was glad about. But Bruce's words made her stop and consider what he said. Clint was the closest thing she had to family, and yet she had not ensured he was okay after what happened with Loki; rather, she just wanted to pretend he was fine. In fact, she found him more malleable after what happened, and focused on that as a positive, rather than even considering the possibility that Clint could still be suffering, could be anything other than 100% himself. She felt ashamed of herself, and it made her think; if she missed something that with hindsight is so obvious about her closest and dearest friend, is it possible that she could have been wrong about her assessment of Tony?

JARVIS was impressed with Bruce; he seemed to have actually got the other Avengers to think. Although this was maybe not the path he had intended, he could work with it. He let them all sit and stew in their thoughts for a good 10 minutes before he spoke up again; “I believe you all have much to think about. In light of the Protocol Sir enacted, you will be having a meeting at 10am tomorrow with Miss Potts, and possibly Colonel Rhodes. I suggest that you all have a serious think about your actions and treatment of Sir to date, and whether you would deem such behaviour reasonable if it was aimed at you, or your partner, or your child. I have ordered your preferred meals to your rooms. They should arrive within the next half hour. In light of this Protocol, I will no longer be accessible to you unless Sir or one of his Proxy's orders otherwise. Good Luck.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter really did not end up going where I expected, so I need to have a good think about where I'm going next. It may be a bit before I update again (given that I've updated three times within the last few weeks, just a heads up the next part is NOT WRITTEN so may be a while!)


	5. Pepper, Rhodey, and Bruce

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> JARVIS ensures Pepper and Rhodey are aware that Operation Had Enough had been enacted, and the reasons for it. Bruce has a think.

Pepper and Rhodey receive an email from JARVIS, with the subject title 'Operation Had Enough' has been enacted. Pepper calls Rhodey immediately, and they agree to open the email together. The body of the email is simply JARVIS reiterating that the protocol had been enacted, and that in light of the same he had booked a conference room for a meeting with the Avengers at 10am. However, there were also 2 attachments to the email; a video entitled 'reason', and a word document entitled 'transcript aftermath'. 

They ended up watching the video numerous times, as it took a while for them to get past their anger at Steve's actions before they were really able to enjoy the sight of Tony punching Steve like he so truly deserved! By about the sixth watch, they were both chuckling, and Rhodey was beaming with pride. 'Go Tony!'

They agreed that they would read through the transcript separately, and use the information they gather from it to ponder over the plan for the meeting tomorrow; which they would discuss over breakfast before the meeting. By the end of the call they had calmed down, and were resolute in their determination to protect Tony, and to ensure that the Avengers grasped the magnitude of their actions, and hopefully, see the error of their ways and the need to apologise to Tony.

Meanwhile, each of the Avengers had returned to their respective living spaces. 

Bruce was quite proud of himself for standing up for Tony, and managing not to Hulk out despite how angry he had felt at the other Avengers on his friend's behalf. But as he ate the curry JARVIS had provided, he started to think over all the interactions he had witnessed between Tony and the Avengers, and even his own behaviour towards Tony – particularly when they were all together as a group. He was ashamed as he recollected numerous occasions when the others (Clint and Steve in the main, but Natasha too on numerous occasions) had made derogatory comments to or about Tony and Bruce had said nothing in his defence. Times when they had moaned about Tony being 'too good' to hang around with them, or commented that he was self-absorbed, that he had no friends accept those he bought.... And then there was the 'playful' teasing. Clint in particular tended to pass comment on Tony's playboy status; Bruce could recall more than one occasion of Clint commenting about Tony whoring himself out for any kind of affection. But the instances that Bruce kept flashing back to where all the times the Team; himself included, had passed comment on Tony's height. For all Bruce really had meant it in a friendly teasing manner, clearly this was not a sentiment shared by all of the Team. And looking back, he could see that it was a trigger for Tony; as he would always leave as soon as possible, and would likely lock himself in the lab for at least a day.

In addition to his shame at his actions (and inaction) and his own anger at how the rest of the team had acted, he could feel Hulk's anger – he was shouting at Bruce for daring to hurt his 'Tin-Man'. Bruce knew that if he let Hulk out he'd end up doing serious damage; not just to the Tower, but likely the Team too. And for all a small part of him felt the team deserved it, he acknowledged that it was not fair that they be beat up by the Hulk when he cannot be; and more importantly, Tony should not have to suffer even more due to property damage caused by Hulk's anger.

Bruce decided it was better safe than sorry, so after thanking JARVIS for his meal (and receiving no response), he decided that he would spend the night in his Hulk Room and try to meditate and calm both him and the Hulk down to prepare for the meeting in the morning, and brace them both to face the wrath of Pepper Potts.


	6. Steve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve has questions, so he asks Google. The response he receives makes him take a good hard look at his actions.

Uncharacteristically for him, upon returning to his floors, Steve had headed straight for his laptop. He needed answers, and as he could no ask JARVIS, he would have to resort to the far more common and impersonal way to gather information; Google. Sitting there with his slow two-finger pecking on the keyboard, the first question he asked was 'am I a bully?' He was lead to an article on newsweek.com listing 6 signs of bullying according to a psychologist. He decided to go through the list, specifically thinking about the way he acted towards Tony:  
1) Repeatedly upset him; which you would notice by him getting angry or complaining about your behaviour. Right from their very first meeting, Steve could recall a multitude of occasions where Tony had got angry with him. He was aware that Tony had an aversion to 'feelings', and that Tony was far too proud to r complained about how he treated him. But Steve noted that although him and Tony still argued, outside of work related arguments during debriefs (which were mainly Tony trying to defend himself when he gets blamed for whatever may have gone wrong, or for disobeying an order), Tony had gone out of his way to avoid any lengthy interactions with the team. 

2) Lacking any empathy towards him; with hindsight, other than when Tony went through the wormhole, Steve could not recollect a single occasion that he had expressed any degree of concern for Tony; which he himself found most concerning, as he had always considered himself to be a kind and empathetic person. He considered himself a gentlemen; who held open doors and always said please and thank you. Who would smile kindly when he was served a drink or a meal, and always tip well. He would learn people's names and ask about their day. But when he thought back, he could rarely remember a time he actually called Tony Tony, rather than 'Stark'. He could not recall a single occasion when he had sincerely thanked Tony for anything he had provided him; his suit, his home, his clothes, all the tech he had, the purpose-built gym equipment and the abundance of funds he had been give access to. 

3) Getting aggressive by openly shouting, threatening or humiliating Tony in front of others. He knew he did this in practically every debrief. He always seemed to have a negative comment to make about Tony's actions in the field, and always voiced this in front of the rest of the team. Rather than taking Tony aside or having a private meeting with him, he would shout at him and blame him in front of everyone.

4) Making himself feel better by evoking discomfort or insecurity in a colleague. Now this one was clearly what he did every time he commented about Tony's height. Steve could clearly remember being made to feel small and insignificant, like he was less of a man due to being of smaller stature. Even friendly teasing from Bucky had hurt at times. So he could only imagine how it felt for Tony; to get it not only from the press and complete strangers, but from the people he lived and worked with, people he had hoped to call friends?

5) Spreading malicious rumours. He wasn't sure if he could say that he had done this specifically, but he had tended to believe everything negative he read about Tony in the press, and he could recall several occasions of talking about Tony with Clint and/or Natasha and them all having their opinions (none of which were positive) about the man. With hindsight, he used the information about Tony he got from the SHIELD spies to bolster his own negative opinion of the man, to the point where he never registered anything positive.

6) Misusing your power or position; such as deliberately and persistently ignoring or excluding someone. He felt heavy with shame as he acknowledged that he had most certainly done this. They often went out for Team meals or had movie nights without inviting Tony; despite being in Tony's home! Even in his own thoughts, his knee-jerk response was to tell himself that 'Tony wouldn't come anyway', but he knew that was not the case. Tony had started to come with excuses to arrive late or leave early or just not come at all because he was clearly not welcome. They would tell him to shut up if he made any quips about the movie, and Steve could recall several occasions when they talked amongst themselves and completely ignored and comments Tony made to try to insert himself into the conversation.

Ashamed felt like an insufficient term for how he felt as he thought about his actions in conjunction with this list. He had not acted like the Leader, or even the 'good man' he posited himself to be. He could feel himself getting choked up, but swallowed back the tears; feeling that he did not deserve to cry; these were tears of guilt and shame for his own actions. If Tony was not able to feel safe enough in his own home to show his upset at the treatment of his teammates, Steve most certainly does not have the right to cry over his own appalling behaviour.

He took some time away from the computer to eat the shepherds pie JARVIS had ordered for him; but found himself unable to eat it all, as it reminded him of his mother, who he felt he had dishonoured by acting in a way so opposing of the man she had hoped he would become. When he returned to the laptop, it was whilst pondering about a term Bruce had used towards Natasha that he had not understood. Having been lead to a sight called verywellmind.com in response to him asking the question 'What is 'gaslighting'?' he was once again lead to a list of things someone does when they are gaslighting another person:  
\- lying to you  
\- discrediting you  
\- deflecting blame  
\- minimizing your thoughts and feelings  
\- shifting blame  
\- deny wrongdoing  
\- using compassionate words as weapons  
\- twisting and reframing conversations  
Steve was actually quite scared by how aptly this fit Natasha's behaviour. Although he understood that she had of course been damaged by the Red Room, and could understand why she might need to act in this sort of why whilst on a mission, the fact that she continued even at home, amongst her Team, was concerning. But at the same time, most of the behaviours were aimed towards Tony, and he had to admit that he was culpable of some of them towards Tony also; although not deliberately trying to 'gaslight' him (as Steve had never heard of the term before that day), he knew he had done several of those things on that list to Tony. 

As he retired to bed, it was with a heavy heart, certain that he would not sleep well due to the weight of the guilt on his mind. He was dreading the meeting tomorrow, but knew that he would have to use it to admit his faults and confirm that he would be granting Tony a well-deserved apology when he returned.


End file.
